Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-10-04
AMONG THE MExicANS.
"yo Els Costumbre" Their Motto-A
Hotel of the Country.
FOL


the idea that Mexico was, 80 to speak,
saturated with the leaven Of progress and
enterprise, and naturally felt that was
going to find it sort of little America,
with exceptional natural advantages"
and was prepared to find every one of her
5000, 900 souls imbued with the hveliness
of the typical Yankee. At any rate, any
one would not be to blame who Mt least
expected to find upon the frontier towns
little Of the benefits which might accrue
from the occasional contact Of the natives
with the high souled and refined cow
bows, bull whackers and chivalrous gam
blers who live Just cover the border" in
Texas.
You get inside of Laredo, and you rub
your eyes to make sure you are not suffer-
ing from nightmare. Where is the
spirit Of advancement Where the activity
Just simply nowhere. Around the depots
a few Americans are gathered, and few
Mexicans Of all classes and conditions Of
'apathetic Indifference, smoking cigarettes
and waiting for the clouds to roll by.
You want porter to take your own lug
gage, which consists of q gripsack and
your ''little woman's" baggage, which
consists OF seven bandboxes and three
bundles, to hotel. A porter! How easy
that sounds to us. How hard to realize
here, for not one of the twenty who sur
round yon will undertake any such a Ia
Dor. That is to say, one man will take
one piece Of baggage, but no more. You
may argue in the way which comes most
natural to you, but all the answer you get
is mo es costumbre' lit is not custom
ary), and rs you progress further into the
country and its habits you discover that
the watchword and the bulwarks of so
,;a in, ;e Nl,,<
Even the children say it, soberly and
gravely with uplifted finger as if en-
forcing religious law. If you were
dying Of thirst burning with fever, in
danger of immediate death at any time or
place not mentioned in this great law of
what is or is not customary, you might
die, and dying your last earthly sight
would be the uplifted finger, the grave
reproachful expression Us you heard the
words mo es costumbre." At first it
only causes slight feeling Of annoyance,
but at last it becomes thorn in your side,
and you are only too apt to say d
your custCms"'
BY the expenditure of about 81 we got
our luggage transferred to our hotel, o
hotel kept on the Mexican plan. for the
''little woman" was bound to see Mexico,
not America in Mexico. / think she re-
pented later but she is real grit and as
determined as she is pretty, which is say
ing n good deal, and she never went back
on her first intention
az Our ''hotel'' was a noble structure, she
declared, and she began her tour of OBJ
servatlon around it rs soon rs we arrived.
She tried to get into the kitchen, but
found that was not customary" so she
gave it up for the time, though later she
got barrel and board and made me
lift her on it, SO she could peep in through
a window. She afterward said that she
saw in the middle of the big room little
sort OF platform, on which burned fifteen
or twenty tiny fires, over each Of which
sat stew pan, and before another fire on
the ground, fiat, sat an old woman baking
pancakes, which they they call tortillas,
and two others were grinding meal in a
corner; but 1t was men who were doing
the cooking. They were skinning the
chickens, she told me in horror at the bar
barity Of it, though it is quite probable
that they had lain five days dead" She
didn't have as much appetite in Mexico
rs she might have had, often thought,
had her curiosity not been quite so strong.
For supper one Of the favoritc dishes was
tomatoes stuffed with chopped Chill pep
pers. The dear little woman thought
they would he nice, and so tried them,
but coughed and turned red, and begged
for water. Water, signora No es cos
tumbre. Leche, lechey' And In spite Of
protest the poor little woman had to swal-
low cup Of milk, which she detests.
Our hotel, like all distinctively Mexican
houses, is built in u sort of hollow square
with a patio inside, which once had a
fountain, but which now is for the most
utilized for the reception Of refuse, princi-
pally ashes. l forgot that ash heap. 1t
is n very bad plan to allow yourself to for
get such things. remembered 1t, though,
when ! fell upon it. ] regret that those
who arranged our language died before
they had evolved word which could have
described my appearance when got up
of that ash heap. AS the fellow who
seems to always be everywhere just when
he is not wanted approached me, he
gravely said 'SSgnor! You should not
do that; no es costumbrer'
Edward" said the little woman,
"there is no soap and only one towel for
both of us, and am afraid the bed is not
going to be very comfortable, and there Is
no lock to the door, and | III, sure there
are feas, and that window goes slamming
all the time, and there are nc curtains to
ii anyhow, anu l am certain that is rat
hole and"--
"Oh, let up, let up! What shall dc
about itr'
"Why, go and tell the landlord"
"And have him tell me mo es costum,
brc' AGAIN. No, my dear, VIC must make
the best of it. will sit up all night with
pistol So go to sleep now. In the
morning we will go out and visit the
town, get acquainted with the natives,
and get ready to leave"
''No, Edward, come to bed. If we die
it shall be together. L am sure saw a
cat outside. II you could only entice her
IN should not be afraid"
But the cat proved herself rs infiexible
as the rule that governs all Mexico. She
turned her back and walked OF waving
her tail in the customary warming while
we alternately hunted ileas and longcd TO,
daylight EDWARD WHO